Royal Park

While walking in Royal Park this week we were surprised to see a Bell Miner in the trees along the tram line near Park Street, then again a few days later Bell Miners were in the trees to the east of the zoo rail gate and near Royal Park Station. Bell Miners have a permanent colony within the zoo, in the vicinity of the 'Australian Bush' zone, they can be regularly seen outside the zoo fence in the tall gums which line the west wall.

Seeing Bell Miners at these new sites is unusual, not only because we have not seen Bell Miners here before, but because Bell Miners have small foraging ranges. A Bell Miner would not normally be expected to forage more than 100m from its territory. The new sites are approximately 500m to 1km outside of the Bell Miners normal range. It may be possible that due to drought and lack of food some birds are foraging out of their normal territory. Or are they attempting to set up new colonies? I think it most likely that the Bell Miners are coming from the Zoo but there is a small possibility that these are 'new' Bell Miners seeking new territories due to the large fires in the east of Melbourne.

Seeing Bell Miners extend their territories is a concern because they are territorial and can chase other small birds from the area. Information I have read on other expansions of Bell Miner territory indicate that these expansions can be temporary as the birds find it difficult to breed without the protection of a larger group and eventually return to the original colony. I will continue to watch over the coming months to see what eventuates.

Remanant grasses

It was a beautiful sunny morning at the Trin Warren Tam-boore Wetland today. The two Black Swans were on the Storage Pond and with them was a White-faced Heron, who is an unusual visitor to the wetland.

Ruby Saltbush

European Greenfinch were feeding on the flowering grasses between the Storage Pond and the roadside and the grasses in the remnant grassland were also flowering. I also noticed a ruby saltbush in the garden between the Storage Pond and the freeway fruiting.

Many ducks were loafing on the exposed mud in the Treatment Pond. I checked the Hobbies nest, which is in one of the tallest gums on the south side of the Treatment Pond, but it seems the Hobbies have left the nest for the year.

Kookaburra on the Escarpment

I heard a soft gurgling cackling noise coming from the escarpment and guessed that Kookaburras were up there. I quickly climbed the stairs and walked up through the skink habitat to the escarpment and discovered three Kookaburras sitting in one of the gnarly old eucalypts. I have seen two in the area before but this is the first time I have ever seen three and it seems that one of the Kookaburras was an immature bird, it had a faint buffy brown colour on its face and was making the soft gurgling half laughing noises which appeared to be begging for food from its parents. It's great to discover that it appears the are Kookaburras breading in the area.

Royal Park Bird List